petition to Supreme Court against Meron closure

The other day it was reported that a couple of people and organizations petitioned the Supreme Court against the Lag B'Omer closure on the area of Meron and Kever Rashbi, especially against those who want to be there for the traditional haircut for a child that reaches the age of 3 years old.

Briefly, the claims against the closure are that it damages freedom of religious worship, is discriminatory against those who wish to participate in the "hilula" of Rashbi vs the general public that does not. Another claim is that some Admorim are being let in to participate but no criteria was published for how people can qualify for such a permit, and why should some people be allowed in but not others.

Another claim, specifically about the chalaka, is that the chalaka is limited by time and the custom is Lag B'Omer by Kever Rashbi, not the week or month after and not somewhere else - it should be allowed, as there is no alternative to the custom as it is.

Basically they want the Supreme Court to rule against the closure and allow the public to go to Kever Rashbi on lag B'Omer to celebrate and perform the custom of chalaka.

The State just responded presenting their side of the case. They started with the obvious explaining the spread of the virus especially at events with masses of people and show the numbers how social distancing has worked to prevent the spread. The State explained that it decided to have small lightings, one for each participating community - Sefardi, Hassidic and Dati Leumi, each with equal numbers of minimal participants, public health concerns, blah blah blah etc.

The interesting part is when the State said that despite the importance of the freedom of religious worship, when it conflicts with other more important rights, such as the right to life, the freedom of worship can be limited. With the State allowing bonfires on Kever Rashbi, in a limited capacity, it is not preventing the freedom of worship, just limiting it due to the seriosu public health concerns.

The State commented that the right to prayer is not being stopped, as people can continue to pray, just not there. Halacha also recognizes the concept of pikuach nefesh. The State specifically pointed to the official Chief Rabbis, and even Rav Chaim Kanievsky, who stated that Pikuach nefesh is more important and it should be closed and shut down to personal attendance this year.

I find it interesting that they petitioned the Supreme Court over the closure of Meron but not the closure of synagogues and yeshivas. That they accepted as ok, but the limiting of bonfires is an outrageous and unreasonable act of limiting freedom of worship.

And, interestingly, the State pointed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky to "prove" that the rabbonim say this year it is prohibited. Rav Chaim Kanievsky has some sort of status for everybody, but he is really one of the rabbinic leaders of the Litvishe community, not the sefardic and not the hassidic (even if they respect him greatly). The Litvishe community isnt even one of the groups that got a bonfire allocation, showing how little the Litvishe community thinks of this as important, yet the State pointed to Rav Chaim Kanievsky's "issur" to placate the Hassidic and Sefardic petitioners...

I can't beliueve the Court did not just reject this petition oturight. When the State is busy limiting the citizens and residents in so many ways due to valid health concerns, this should not even be an issue - it is definitely not the most important of all the issues.

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel

------------------------------------------------------